[AISWorld] Theories and Products of Theorizing (T-PoT) World Tour Notes

[Nik Rushdi Hassan]

1. PhD means Doctor of Philosophy
One of the goals of the Theories and Products of Theorizing (T-PoT) World
Tour, sponsored in part by the SIG Philosophy of Information Systems and
the generous support of many universities around the world, is to raise the
discourse on theories and theorizing in IS. As I write the notes from my
experiences, I will share some highlights from the tour, many of which will
raise questions that require answers. Many years ago at an AMCIS
conference, I asked several groups of PhD students (more than 7 groups) how
they felt about the philosophy courses they took and the philosophy-related
articles they were asked to read. Most of them (over 90%) said philosophy
was a waste of their time. Several years later, Allen Lee reported at a SIG
Philosophy workshop at ICIS that his Philosophy of Science course at VCU
that was required for all PhD students in the school of business was
cancelled (certainly not because of lack of instructor talent!). I
mentioned this ambivalence of students about the importance of philosophy
in IS at one of the T-PoT visits and someone commented that such sentiments
haven’t changed since I conducted that survey. After visiting six
institutions in Europe, I realized that philosophy is not a priority in PhD
programs; it is by and large, an afterthought. What evidence do I have for
this claim? I got blank looks from many of the PhD students when I
mentioned Kuhn and when I asked how many of the 10-20 in the audience
actually read his *Structure of Scientific Revolutions* cover-to-cover,
only 1 or 2 raised their hands, and those were from the faculty in
attendance. At several locations, I jokingly reminded them that they were
getting PhDs, which means they are to be Doctors of Philosophy. At some
institutions, students can already start collecting data for their research
at the start of their programs, even before they were trained in philosophy
or research methods. There is definitely a huge range in level of
preparedness among PhDs for undertaking research.

The other realization that struck a chord with me was how virtually
everyone is struggling with theories and theorizing. I am not saying I am
an expert by any means because I too struggled to understand and make sense
of all the writings on theories and theorizing. In fact, one of the major
reasons for undertaking the T-PoT tour was to share what I thought made the
most sense to me. The hunger for guidance on and knowledge of theories and
theorizing was palpable at every single university I visited. In
retrospect, this wasn’t surprising given that we don’t explicitly teach
theories and theorizing yet expect PhD students to produce them. This is no
one’s fault. Resources on theories and theorizing are few in the IS field,
and although they can be found scattered outside the field in management
articles and books, they don’t represent useful guides for faculty or
students. Many were surprised to learn that theory should guide research
from the very beginning, rather than being an afterthought added later to
satisfy reviewer demands for "more theoretical contribution." The modus
operandi for research (including one paper that I’m currently involved
with) is to conduct the research, analyze the data and when we’re ready to
submit, find some theory that will “tell the story.” There are just too
many conflicting messages when it comes to theory and theorizing, that it
is clear we need an ongoing dialogue to clarify these issues.

I invite everyone to respond to these impressions and start a conversation
on the AIS World Listserv.

-- 
Nik Rushdi Hassan, Professor of Management Studies
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
University of Minnesota Duluth
1318 Kirby Drive, LSBE 365P
Duluth MN 55812
Office Phone: (218) 726-7453
Fax: (218) 726-7578
Home Page: www.d.umn.edu/~nhassan
Email: nhassan at d.umn.edu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nikrushdi/